Alumni Connection

Dear Labor Center alums,

Thanks to all of you who have sent in updated contact info and checks! We've received close to $4000, which will help us support the activities of the Labor Center.

We've emailed a copy of the alumni database to all alumni for whom we have email addresses. If you did not receive an emailed copy, please contact Beth Berry at bberry@lrrc.umass.edu. You'll see that we're still missing a lot of information, so if you have updates for yourself or a friend, please send them to Beth Berry at the link above.

New Labor Law/Labor Studies Degree

The Labor Center is working with Western New England College (WNEC) School of Law to develop a four-year joint degree in labor law. Students will earn a Master's degree in Labor Studies through UMass, and a law degree from WNEC. The proposal is currently before the UMass Faculty Senate, and we hope to launch it sometime next year.

Stay in touch!

ALUMNI PROFILE

David Hammer Named New Executive Director of the ICA Group

The Board of Directors of the ICA Group has selected David Hammer as
the non-profit's new executive director. The ICA Group was the first
national organization focused on the development and support of worker
owned cooperatives in the United States. Mr. Hammer fills a vacancy
created by Newell Lessell's departure in January 2013. The selection was
made after an extensive national search.

Hammer has spent his career working for organizations dedicated to
changing workers' lives for the better. As an ICA Senior Business
Consultant for the last five years, he oversaw the business planning,
feasibility, and market study work ICA performed for social ventures. He was the lead author of a study for the National Cooperative Grocers
Association that measured the social and economic impact of food
cooperatives, and led the research on the strategic analysis of numerous
programs for NCB Capital Impact, including the Green House Initiative
and the Village to Village Network. From 2005 to 2008 he served as
Assistant Director of Research of 1199SEIU, a 300,000 member health care
union with members in New York, Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington
DC. Previously Mr. Hammer conducted research for UNITE in New York City
and the United Steelworkers of America in Pittsburgh. Hammer earned a
Masters of Science from the Labor Relations and Research Center at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Bachelor's degree in History
from UMass, Amherst.

"David's business expertise and background with the labor movement make
him well placed to promote worker ownership strategies with groups
seeking to spawn a 'new economy' including many unions and community
groups," said Rand Wilson, an ICA Board member currently on staff at
SEIU Local 888 in Boston.